The Nuclear Showdown: The Battle over Enrichment

The Nuclear Showdown: Part 2- The Battle over
Enrichment

Tensions appeared to be easing between
the United States and Iran. The U.S. has hinted at creating
an embassy in Iran, the first since the 1979 hostage crisis.
According to an article by Ewen MacAskill from July 18th in
the Sydney Morning Herald, "The U.S. plans to establish a
diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 28 years
as part of a remarkable turnaround in policy by the
President, George Bush." Anderson Cooper of CNN says in his
“Morning Buzz” report from July 17th, “Washington
would open a U.S. interests section in the Iranian capital,
not a FULL Embassy, but a halfway house to setting up a full
embassy.” And Ewen MacAskill goes on to say, “Iran’s
President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, indicated earlier this week
that he was not against the opening of a U.S.
mission.”

The U.S. also sent its third-ranking diplomat
to hear Iran’s answer to the latest incentives proposal in
Geneva. The U.S. had previously insisted they would not
negotiate directly with Iran until it halts its enrichment
program. According to a BBC News Report from July 19th
entitled “U.S. Sets Nuclear Deadline for Iran,” the U.S.
did not get the answer they hoped for. So the diplomats gave
Iran two weeks to make a decision or face further sanctions.
We are now passed the two week deadline and further
sanctions are being pursued by the U.S. and her allies.
Again, it appears they did not get the answer they wanted.
The BBC News Report mentioned above quotes State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack as saying, "We hope the Iranian
people understand that their leaders need to make a choice
between co-operation, which would bring benefits to all, and
confrontation, which can only lead to further isolation."

While these steps show signs of improvement in relations
between the two countries, the U.S. and its allies are not
retreating on their demand that Iran freeze its enrichment
program, and Iran will not back down on what they feel is
their right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to
make their own nuclear fuel. Iran’s President doesn’t
seem too concerned over the threats of new sanctions. In an
article in the AP from July 28th entitled “U.S. to wait
and see on Ahmadinejad,” the President is asked if Iran
would suspend enrichment to gain international acceptance.
He says Iran already enjoys, “very good economic and
cultural relations with countries around the world. For the
continuation of our lives and for progress, we do not need
the services, if I can use the word, of a few countries.”
So, we are at a standstill.

While Iran says its nuclear
program is peaceful, with no intention of developing nuclear
weapons, the U.S. and her allies still believe Iran plans to
covertly make a nuclear bomb. The United States feels Iran
cannot be trusted because they had a secret nuclear program
for nearly twenty years that they finally disclosed in 2002.
Iran feels they cannot trust the West’s guarantees, as
every attempt to acquire the technology legally has been
blocked by the U.S. Iran says they kept their program secret
because they feared the U.S. would try to intervene.

Iran
had started construction of nuclear reactors with the help
of the United States in the 1960’s under the rule of Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, an ally of the U.S. But after the
revolution of 1979, the new government did not feel Iran
needed nuclear power. According to Mohammad Sahimi’s
article, “Iran’s Nuclear Program, Part I,” this left
two reactors incomplete. Then the reactors were further
destroyed during the Iran/Iraq War. Luckily, some of the
major equipment had not been installed. Sahimi says, “in
fact two steam generators were stored in Italy, while the
pressure vessel for Bushehr-1 was stored in Germany.”
After the war and the revolution ended, Iran’s government
again turned to nuclear power. The government then set about
repairing and rebuilding the reactors. Mohammad Sahimi goes
on to say, “The first reconstruction and development plan
proposed and carried out by President Hashemi Rafsanjani's
government, coupled with Iran's chronic shortage of
electricity that went back to the early 1970s, and the rapid
growth of her population, were three major reasons for Iran
to restart her nuclear program for obtaining electricity.”

Iran asked the German company Kraftwerk Union, who had
been building the reactors until the revolution of 1979 and
held some of the equipment yet to be installed, to finish
the job, but the German government denied their request,
under U.S. pressure. Iran then attempted to reclaim the
equipment it had already paid for from Germany, but the
German government again denied their request, again under
U.S. pressure. Sahimi writes that Iran then filed a
complaint with the International Commerce Commission (ICC)
in 1996 “asking for $5.4 billion in compensation for
Germany's failure to comply.” He says that as of 2003,
this case remained unsettled. And according to Wikipedia,
“The U.S. was also paid to deliver new fuel and upgrade
its power in accordance with a contract signed before the
revolution. The U.S. delivered neither the fuel nor returned
the billions of dollars payment it had received.” There
was also a lawsuit filed by Iran against the mainly French
company Eurodif, which is a uranium enrichment company that
Iran had invested over 1 billion dollars in for rights to
10% of the production. This too was denied and Iran filed
suit against France, finally receiving 1.6 billion dollars
in 1991. The U.S. also stopped Argentina, Russia, China and
the IAEA from helping the Iranian nuclear program.

So,
the United States does not trust Iran, but I think we in the
west do not realize that Iran doesn’t trust us either.
Iran wants to enrich their own uranium so that they are in
control of their own energy needs. Here in the U.S., both
presidential candidates are calling for an end to our
dependency on foreign oil. The candidates are also both
pushing the U.S. to reduce their carbon footprint,
especially after the latest G8 convention, where the U.S.
signed a treaty promising to cut their carbon emissions in
half by 2050. One of the ways the U.S. plans to do this is
with more nuclear power.

In an article by AP writer John
Miller on July 27th called “Companies race to open new
uranium enrichment facilities in U.S.,” Miller writes,
“Two U.S. companies, General Electric and United States
Enrichment Corp., or USEC, along with their European rivals,
Urenco and Areva, are pushing billions worth of new U.S.
enrichment plants or technology so they do not miss the new
uranium boom.” He goes on to say that, “Opponents
including the Union of Concerned Scientists fear that
investment sends the wrong message to countries like Iran,
which is under international pressure to halt its own
uranium enrichment efforts. The scientists' group argues
that it is unclear the United States really needs new
facilities, when it could just import nuclear fuel from
elsewhere.” Miller says that the U.S. currently imports
most of its enriched uranium, some of which comes from
Russia in a program called “Megatons for Megawatts.” In
this program, “warheads are converted in Russia to nuclear
fuel and then shipped to the United States.” But this deal
ends in 2013, so new uranium processing plants will be
shooting up all across America to fill the new demand. (The
U.S. could of course dismantle its own nuclear weapons and
use that fuel, which the taxpayers have already paid for,
but we all know that won’t happen.) He says, “As
enrichment fever grows, however, the Union of Concerned
Scientists in Washington is watching with unease, because it
believes this activity undermines U.S. credibility with
Iran.” He quotes Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist with the
group, as saying,” The U.S. has said Iran doesn't need
nuclear power because of its oil and natural gas reserves.
Iran turns around and says, 'We want to mitigate greenhouse
gas emissions, just like you do.' There's this kind of
double-talk.”

There is also the recent nuclear deal with
India that caused riots and fighting within the Indian
government. In an article from July 22nd’s AP by Matthew
Rosenburg called, “India’s Government Survives
Confidence Vote,” Rosenburg writes, “India's government
survived a bruising political battle to win a confidence
vote Tuesday, reviving a landmark nuclear energy deal with
the United States that is at the center of an emerging
partnership between the world's two largest democracies.”
He says, “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Congress
party fought hard to secure victory, and appeared to cut
back room deals when all else failed. An airport was named
after one lawmaker's father, another was promised a
high-level job and — rival politicians allege — many
others received millions of dollars in bribes.” After the
votes, which passed at 275 to 256, Rosenberg quotes the
Prime Minister as saying this deal will, “send a message
to the world at large that India is prepared to take its
place in the committee of nations.” India has yet to sign
the NPT Treaty and has also performed nuclear tests, but the
U.S. is pushing for the deal.

The U.S. is also reviving a
long dormant deal with Turkey. According to August 8th’s
“Today’s Zaman,” an English-language paper in Turkey,
“US President George W. Bush has approved a cooperation
deal with Turkey concerning peaceful uses of nuclear energy,
saying that private-sector proliferation worries have been
addressed, the White House has announced.” This article
quotes President Bush as saying, “In my judgment, entry
into force of the Agreement will serve as a strong incentive
for Turkey to continue its support for nonproliferation
objectives and enact future sound nonproliferation policies
and practices. It will also promote closer political and
economic ties with a NATO ally, and provide the necessary
legal framework for US industry to make nuclear exports to
Turkey's planned civil nuclear sector.”

Why is the U.S.
pushing for deals with Turkey and India and pushing for
sanctions against Iran? Because they are our allies? Why
does that override Iran’s right internationally to the
same inspections and guidelines that will allow Turkey and
India nuclear power. Is it just because India and Turkey are
willing to buy it from other countries and Iran wants to
make its own?

In a BBC News Report from September 2006
entitled “Q&A: Uranium Enrichment,” they ask the
question “Who is already enriching uranium?” They
answer, “According to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, six organizations
operate commercial-scale enrichment plants. They are: China
National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), which has two
centrifuge plants in China, Eurodif, a joint venture between
Belgium, France, Italy and Spain, with one diffusion plant
in France, Minatom, the Russian state organization, with
four centrifuge plants, Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL),
with one centrifuge plant, Urenco, a joint venture between
companies in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, with
centrifuge plants in each of the three countries, The United
States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), a US firm with a
diffusion plant in Kentucky.” They say, “Both Pakistan
and India enrich uranium on a smaller scale. Argentina's
enrichment program is said by experts to be more or less
dormant.” They also say Brazil and Australia are on their
way. The report says Israel is suspected of having a plant
but this has not been confirmed.

So our two main enemies
of our most recent World War are enriching uranium. Our Cold
War counterpart is not only enriching uranium, but breaking
down their nuclear weapons and selling us the enriched
uranium.

The report next asks, “What controls are there
on uranium enrichment?” The report answers, “Nations
which are signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty have the "inalienable right" to make nuclear fuel for
peaceful purposes, through enriching uranium or separating
plutonium.” Iran has signed this treaty. The report
further states, “However, there are three states - India,
Israel and Pakistan - which are known to possess nuclear
weapons but have never joined the treaty.” So the U.S.
pushes for a deal with India, who already has weapons, and
supports Israel, who is hiding their’s, but fights to deny
Iran the right to make its own fuel. It’s is also
interesting to note that the countries pushing for
sanctions, The United States, China, Russia, Britain, France
and Germany, are all on the above list of countries already
producing enriched uranium on a commercial level.

In a
recent NPR interview, Rami Khouri, Editor of “The Daily
Star,” one of the leading English language newspapers in
the Middle East, says that the Middle East’s biggest
problem with the U.S. is consistency. He says the U.S. takes
sides, when instead it should treat its role like an umpire
in baseball. He suggests that Condoleezza Rice, who he says
is a big sports fan, should read the umpire’s rule book
before going into negotiations. He says in the rule book,
rules are not based on power. You treat both sides the same,
and before you make a call you get all the facts, and
discuss the biggest ones with the other umpires on the
field.

I don’t know Iran’s intentions regarding
nuclear weapons; I hope they are telling the truth. I also
do not know if the U.S. is trying to profit in this battle
or do what they genuinely think is best for the world, and
not just the U.S. and her allies. I hope. What we do know is
the image the U.S. is presenting to the world. Calling for
more nuclear power at home, pushing through deals with other
countries in Iran‘s backyard, and then denying an
inalienable right to a NPT signatory country. The U.S.
should try to win the rest of the world’s trust a bit more
before it forces its hand against what it feels is another
enemy. Present that face of peace and democracy that we
advertise in our brochures. Take our troops out of Iraq by
the deadline Iraq is asking for, and replace them with UN
Peacekeeper’s to train Iraqi soldiers if we have to. Stop
building the largest embassy in the world in Iraq and stop
pushing for backhanded deals with big oil contracts, proving
you didn’t go there just for oil. And allow Iran to enrich
its own uranium, for its own national pride and security,
under the same guidelines the rest of the world gets to do
it. And maybe the world will trust our intentions a little
more, and the tight rope we walk might just get a little
stronger.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono posted a billboard in
Times Square that read, “WAR IS OVER - if you want it.”
You here means everybody, and while I am not naïve enough
to believe we are ready for peace, I do believe we will
never get there until we all prove that peace is we want,
and the only way to do that is to play fair. With everybody.
Actions speak much louder than words. We should heed the
words of White House State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack, take out the words “Iranian” people, and say,
"We hope the people understand that their leaders need to
make a choice between co-operation, which would bring
benefits to all, and confrontation, which can only lead to
further isolation."

No empire will last forever, those
are famous words. And there is the old saying, “Be nice to
the people you meet on the way up, you will meet them on the
way back down.”

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